Way to go winners! We will have a VERY strong team going to Denmark next year. Well deserved victories in some brutal conditions, and some easy ones. A little bit of everything, which I agree helped pick the best team. Including having to sit around and wait a long time between certain rounds. Jun dominated most of the contest and no doubt deserves to be #1. Mike Smith battled for his podium spot in a very tight race. Even after blowing up a plane on launch in one of the late rounds when things were super critical. I know, because I was in that round as well, and in the end my timer and I thought I had the K until learning that he had retrieved his backup model and still won the round. Way to keep your cool and perform under pressure Mike! That's what we need at the WC. George was his ever consistent self which we all know is world class.

Thanks team Colorado for all the prep work, and being great hosts.

My favorite contest moment was while timing for junior Jason in the last 3 flights task. He nailed a 3 right off the bat in some sweet air near the field. Second flight hit bad sink and we came in for a relaunch at only 29 seconds to try for the only lift being marked at the moment, way downwind of course. We both felt it was probably out of his range, and talked about it being a big gamble; but he girded up his loins and went for it! Half way there his plane was well past the point of no return and still sinking fast. The other plane marking the lift was now gone. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. At this point we had walked off the field about 100 yards towards the plane so we could still see it. Things weren't looking good, and we were getting ready for the long walk. The plane is maybe 15 ft high when someone opened the elevator door and said "Welcome Mr. Vandal, step right in"! Jason cambered up and cranked the turns, and a minute later was at 300 feet. I'll never forget the grin on his face as we walked back to the field while his plane slowly cruised home for a solid 3:00. Great low downwind save Jason! I'm pretty sure the boy is hooked for life.

Hey all, I am sitting here at my desk at work. Just finished going through all the posts, and the congrats and well wishes. I will write up a more detailed report later, but right now, I have to send out huge thanks to the RMSA crew, especially the entire Jensen clan. Dave, Gary, Kelsie, and the rest who's names I can't recall really made us feel welcome and helped us stay comfortable and hydrated. Everyone involved in the organizing of the event were so friendly and caring. Thanks so much.

Thanks too to all of you interested RCgroups peeps for virutal pats on the back. I really appreciate it, and I am sure the others do too.

Its super hard to focus on work, but for the moment I have to try. More later.

It's an 8-9 hour drive from SLC to Denver so we had a long time to talk shop. One thing we talked about was how cool it would be to host an event like this in Utah but neither Mike nor I wanted any part in running/planning the event so we assigned that to Adrian (he was busy at that moment working on world domination through Google so didn't hear that he got an "assignment"). On the way home we decided that there were too many things outside of the control of the organizers that affect the contest that until Adrian figures out how to control the weather (he is working on it...) we would hold off on trying such a venture.

We also talked about our expectations of how well we would do at the contest. My expectation was to finish at at least 95% of the winner's total. I was happy driving home knowing that I met that expectation... now I need to work on greater expectations .

Friday was a prep day at the field. At 8:30 am I went out to see if there was 4 min air since that was going to be the first task the following day. Yup, there was but getting back to the field proved difficult in the light lift and wind. I flew and flew and constantly landed OB. Even when I would tell myself that I'm going land in bounds "no matter what" I still was landing OB. I don't think I was the only one either. I've seen people run off field before but I don't think I've ever seen anyone run so much so often as Oleg did on Friday... I think it might have tired him out for the weekend!

Saturday morning finally came and like all contests... the motor was near red line. I tell Jun that I know in the past I've had a reputation of landing OB and that yesterday I couldn't buy an on-field landing, but at this contest I'm not going to land OB! I'm going to fly conservatively and gather up as many points as I can. I'm in group B and the task is last two flights. About a min before the horn we feel the thermal that I (we all) had been scouting in the prep time blow through. I tell Jun that I'm going to chase it and quickly return for a relaunch if it's too far downwind... I chase downwind and get teased by bubbles enough to stay searching far too long and by the time I try to return I've burned a couple minutes and are far too low to get back to the field. Jun gets his morning jog... sorry about that . The rest of the day went pretty good and I flew about how I expected with the exception of Ladder. I've felt good about the ladder task all year, maxing it at every contest I've been too (I think). So it's pretty windy in my group but there was 10 min air over the tents during the first half of the task (should have taken that as an omen...). I launch for my 1:30 head to the tents and sink out a few seconds short... sh**! Relaunch, head over to the tents and again fall a few seconds short... double sh**! Next launch is NOT over the tents and I'm again in great air but there's not enough time to get the 1:45 (lesson learned... bail sooner if you're struggling). Skip crushed us all by being the only one to get the 2 min flight. Now I'm back to hating the Ladder! Jun did great all day only struggling in a few flights but somehow pulling them off. For those who don't know Jun, he can get very "concentrated" while flying . On one flight he's way downwind and low but knows there's lift nearby. After about 30 seconds of scratching around he finally hooks up, climbs out and returns to the field. On his way back he laughingly says "My eyes are watering... I don't think I've blinked in past minute" :lol: Sure enough, he's got tears running out the sides of his eyes. Saturday afternoon we had a storm gust front come through and almost blew everyone into New Mexico! Almost had a blackout from the dust (and whatever that white stuff was that was spread out on Friday... poison I'm sure ).

Sunday was BRUTAL! I don't care for politics and I sure as he!! don't care for TFRs. The weather was beyond perfect from 8am to 3pm. Just as we decided to get started the wind started up and we even got some rain. We only got a couple rounds in before calling it a day... oh well.

Before we started on Monday morning I was sitting in 5th place... OMG, that was not expected. I knew I was well out of the reach of 3rd due to how many points I was still behind, but WOW... I really wanted to finish the contest off in style getting in all good rounds on Monday. Perhaps it was the pressure of the situation, but I made a bunch of dumb mistakes on Monday, including landing OB again. Jun started to falter a bit too in the first couple rounds which had me a bit worried that he had spent just a little too much time with me and was about to get "Finched" . Turns out that Jun just did one of those "psych" moments where he holds out his hand and asks his friends "here do you want this piece of candy?" and when they reach for it he quickly pulls it back and says "psych!".

It was a BLAST timing for and being timed by Jun. He's one world class guy even without a DLG in his hand. The best pilot definitely won this event! Mike Smith and George perfectly round out the team. I think they're going to be tough to beat next year! Mike Seid... crap, you flew great all weekend and will definitely have your day in the sun. And everyone else from my buddy Mike M in 5th down to Dick (sorry about your mother-in-law) at 30 something position... what great flying.

Juniors: Awesome flying too! All three will do great in Denmark next year. And for those who have not met Alex Parkyn, he's a Junior by age only... in a year he'll be out launching all of us!

Tom: 8 ball, hookers and a circle XXX is a story best left off the groups.

Finch and I visited the facilities at the same time and I broke mancode by talking thru the (plastic) stall wall. Epic.

Were you talking about trail mix between the plactic stall wall? LOL

Speaking of which, Ryan and phil synchronized their steps on the way up to the two porter jons and I was headed around the rv headed that way.... I said something to the effect of good god which one of you am I going to have to follow? Trail mix, or the big (slim) dirty?? loud enough for them to hear and ryan says, you should probably wait to choose after you see how long we are there and who comes out first......

Thank you Ryan, for that nugget of truth, and taking only a 15 second piss...

Way to go winners! We will have a VERY strong team going to Denmark next year. Well deserved victories in some brutal conditions, and some easy ones. A little bit of everything, which I agree helped pick the best team. Including having to sit around and wait a long time between certain rounds. Jun dominated most of the contest and no doubt deserves to be #1. Mike Smith battled for his podium spot in a very tight race. Even after blowing up a plane on launch in one of the late rounds when things were super critical. I know, because I was in that round as well, and in the end my timer and I thought I had the K until learning that he had retrieved his backup model and still won the round. Way to keep your cool and perform under pressure Mike! That's what we need at the WC. George was his ever consistent self which we all know is world class.

Thanks team Colorado for all the prep work, and being great hosts.

My favorite contest moment was while timing for junior Jason in the last 3 flights task. He nailed a 3 right off the bat in some sweet air near the field. Second flight hit bad sink and we came in for a relaunch at only 29 seconds to try for the only lift being marked at the moment, way downwind of course. We both felt it was probably out of his range, and talked about it being a big gamble; but he girded up his loins and went for it! Half way there his plane was well past the point of no return and still sinking fast. The other plane marking the lift was now gone. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. At this point we had walked off the field about 100 yards towards the plane so we could still see it. Things weren't looking good, and we were getting ready for the long walk. The plane is maybe 15 ft high when someone opened the elevator door and said "Welcome Mr. Vandal, step right in"! Jason cambered up and cranked the turns, and a minute later was at 300 feet. I'll never forget the grin on his face as we walked back to the field while his plane slowly cruised home for a solid 3:00. Great low downwind save Jason! I'm pretty sure the boy is hooked for life.

More stories later...

Yup. I though it would be nice to take a risk for once. I barely made it out and when I found the lift I struggled for a few circles and then my plane just shot up. Thanks for timing for me I'm pretty sure anyone else would have convinced me not to do it. I think that flight made up for all my bad ones. The best part of the whole contest was coming home with not a scratch on either plane. I'm excited for worlds.
Hey does anyone know if tower sells how high altimeters or something similar?

A HUGE thanks to the RMSA/The Jensen Clan/John, Gilda and Alex Lovins/John and Denise Jonkie <sp?>/Waldo Pepper (Dave Runyon) and the rest of the support cast for such a fun Contest and such wonderful hospitality!!! We Love you guys and gals!

Another Huge thanks to everyone who came out and flew with us, you guys made it very interesting and challenging indeed!

Congratulations to our new 2013 USA World Team and I wish Jun, Mike and GMo all the best in their endeavor to represent us next July!

I'll try to remember some stories but for now I need to get unpacked and try to achieve much needed sleep.

Congratulations to all pilots, just being there to represent yourself as the best in the nation is an accomplishment in itself. I wish I could have made it this year, but it wasnt in the cards. However it sounds like the weather wouldve induced much swearing from me

Congrats to the new USA team! Jun - you were amazing all weekend, incredible performance. Mike Smith - well deserved 2nd place, you have my highest respect, I was betting on you from the beginning! King George 2nd (3rd this time) - way to prove your prowess. Mike Seid - I thought for sure you were on the team on Monday morning. Next time!
Huge thanks to the RMSA team! They made us feel extremely welcome and did a great job despite all of the bad weather!
We missed a lot of rounds, but we all know that the outcome would have been the same. The same strongest pilots would have been on top. We have a great team and they will do well in Denmark in 2013. Now to fundraising and preparing the team for the real event!